Having been involved in dozens of campaigns and organizations over the past decade, here is a sampling of Adam’s community work:
Beautiful City
Adam was brought on board by this coalition of artists and public space activists to lead the development of government and media relations strategies that helped secure a tax on billboards to fund public art. Intensely opposed by the deep-pocketed outdoor advertising industry, Beautiful City was able to mobilize thousands of supporters across Toronto and deliver nuanced messages and persuasive arguments at the right time to both political and bureaucratic decision-makers.
Wychwood Open Door
As chair and president of the Board of Directors, Adam doubled the organization’s annual budget by crafting an ambitious strategic plan that convinced funders to invest their resources in new and existing programs and capital projects. Serving more than 15,000 meals per year to homeless and socially isolated people, Wychwood Open Door now provides arts and literacy programs, with a new health program in development. On the capital side, Wychwood secured a Trillium Foundation grant to revitalize the program space to make it more welcoming and environmentally sustainable. Also during Adam’s tenure, WOD began its marquee annual Community Trivia Night fundraising event, which now brings in more than $10,000 per year.
Toronto Public Library
A director of the Toronto Public Library Board from 2007-2011, Adam served as vice-chair in 2011. With a keen focus on maintaining and enhancing service, as well as reducing the capital repair backlog for library branches, Adam took a leading role in budget deliberations and negotiations with City Hall. Those efforts contributed to not just sustaining TPL service but adding 350 hours of new service per week to Toronto’s 98 library branches. At 22, Adam was the youngest person ever appointed to the TPL Board by Toronto City Council.
Fair Elections Toronto
A co-founder of this grassroots group of citizens concerned about transparency and fairness in Toronto’s municipal elections, Adam has led the way in having an audit of Toronto mayor Rob Ford’s election campaign ordered — the first time a sitting mayor has ever been audited in Toronto. While Mayor Ford has appealed that case to court, Adam has worked with local media to ensure election finance issues remain in the public’s consciousness.
Toronto Youth Cabinet
As the Director of Council Relations and representative at the Mayor’s Roundtable on Children, Youth and Education, Adam spent his late-teens and early-20s in the corridors of City Hall advocating for Toronto’s 300,000 young people. Among his accomplishments: co-developing a strategy for funding and engaging young people that was adopted by City Council; designing and implementing three annual campaigns that combined grassroots mobilization with lobbying politicians to enhance funding for youth programs in the City budget; and founding the Youth Advisory to the Police Chief to improve youth-police relations.
Adam for Trustee
Building on years of advocacy as a leader of Students United for Public Education and the Campaign for Public Education, in 2010, Adam ran for public school trustee in the midtown Toronto ward of St. Paul’s. Adam campaigned to end school closures through the creation of community hubs in underutilized schools, reduce the multi-billion dollar capital repair backlog in schools through investment in green energy technology, and reform of the long-broken provincial funding formula for public education. With more than 7,000 votes, Adam placed second.
Bachelor of Public Administration and Governance, Ryerson University
Back in school to pursue the undergraduate degree he left behind to start his career, Adam is getting more out of his education thanks to his present and past experience working in and around government. Of particular interest to Adam in his studies is the role of new public management in public administration with particular emphasis on its impact on government accountability; municipal government and governance; financial management and budgeting processes; and the role and evaluation of public sector leadership. Adam is pursuing this degree on a part-time basis and is expected to graduate in 2014-15.
